A CORSHAM firefighter had the trip of a lifetime after his daughter secretly nominated him for a competition in recognition of his charity work.

Andy Webster has been a firefighter in Corsham for seven years and has raised hundreds of pounds for charities through fundraising events, including running the New York Marathon in full fire kit and climbing Mount Snowdon.

His daughter, Harrie May, nominated him for TSB Bank’s #sharetheplusness competition earlier this year, which asked people to say what was special about their dad.

And after being chosen from thousands of entries, the 50-year-old and his daughter spent a week away in LA on a tailor-made trip.

“They did a big surprise at the fire station. I didn’t know anything about it and they’d been planning it for months, but I didn’t have a clue,” said Mr Webster, of Pockeridge Road.

“The whole week was incredible.”

Their trip of a lifetime included outings to watch Mr Webster’s favourite football team, Arsenal, a visit the LA County Museum of Art, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and a LA Dodgers Tour with coach George Lombard.

“Every year we adopt a local charity and we do car washes and we just completed a 28-mile walk for Julia’s House,” added Mr Webster.

“I was never like this in terms of raising money for charity. I had a couple of deaths in the family and it changes you.

“My brother died and it made me look at life differently.

“I’m really glad I did join the fire service.

“Because I’m part of the on-call system I didn’t think they would want me but they had an open day and I happened to fit the right criteria.”